EXCLUSIVE

FBI, most wanted, at McMaster University

Adnan El Shukrijumah alias confirmed!

By Judi McLeod Monday, May 8, 2006
A photograph of Al Qaeda terrorist Adnan El Shukrijumah, aka "Jafar the Pilot"--posted to the Internet by the FBI--has been identified as Ciro Vitolo by the former superintendent of the Hamilton apartment building where he lived,

"I can verify that yes, that's him in the third photograph," Neil Train told Canada Free Press, (CFP) Saturday night.

Train, who was the superintendent of the David Apartments at 47 Duke St., Hamilton, Ont., where El Shukrijumah lived between 1995 and 1998 as Ciro Vitolo, said he had no doubt about making the identity, exclaiming upon seeing the FBI-posted photo, "That's him, that's my tenant!"

"He was always sweating and had these shiny ears. The ears are even shiny in the photo", Train said.

Last Sunday evening, (CFP) discovered a photograph identified as "Ciro Vitolo"--a dead ringer for El Shukrijumah--in a framed picture with the graduating engineering Class of 1998 on display in the hallway of the third floor in McMaster University's John Hodgin's engineering building.

CFP had been following up on a story heard at last weekend's Washington, D.C. symposium on terrorism, sponsored by America's Truth Forum in association with Basics Project.

There's a $5-million bounty on the head of El Shukrijumah, who is being sought by the FBI and CIA in connection with a plot to detonate a dirty bomb--a conventional explosive laced with radioactive material. El Shukrijumah has been described as "the next Mohammad Atta" by American authorities.

First to report that an FBI informant had tipped off authorities that El Shukrijumah had been spotted in Hamilton, Ont., in 2002, posing as a student at McMaster University, which has a 5-megawatt research reactor on campus, was Bill Gertz, national security reporter for the Washington Times.

"In addition, the informant said at least three other al Qaida terrorists were seen in Hamilton in 2002. They include Anas al-Liby, one of the FBI's most wanted terrorists, Jaber A. Elbaneh and Amer El-Maati," Gertz wrote on Oct. 17, 2003.

McMaster's online student records for the Year 2000 list BSc graduate Ciro Vincente Vitolo studying Physics at the Faculty of Science. The word `Lost' appears in brackets beside his name. Vitolo's record is the only one marked `Lost' among the ones viewed.

The Vernon Director at Hamilton Public Library shows Ciro Vitolo as a resident of 47 Duke St. between 1995 and 1998, and shows no record of his address after 1998.

CFP was able to trace Train through a Hamilton Spectator story in a Lexis Nexus search.

El Shukrijumah, who lived at 47 Duke St. as Ciro Vitolo, was the only tenant who paid his rent directly to landlord Frank Tofano. Tofano sold the building in late 1998. Train is now retired.

"When I was super at the David Apartments, Ciro, who told me his name was Richard, had a wife and a couple of kids. He was the only tenant who paid his rent directly to Frank," Train said. "She (his wife) had a nickname for him. She called him Jaf."

"He was always very cordial with me and I had no reason to be suspicious of him. He never seemed to work, but he did tell me that he had some sort of association with McMaster. "

Train recalled both tenants as chain smokers.

"They lived in the basement apartment and he had lots of male, Middle-Eastern visitors, who never seemed to stay very long when they visited him. He would come and find me if I happened to be working in the basement area and ask me, politely to leave. When I asked him why, he told me he had friends coming over and had something to talk over with them privately. If I had to take my time with something I was working on, they wouldn't talk while I was there."

Vitolo-Richard-El Shukrijumah-Jaf spoke fluent English, and once when he fell behind in the rent, the landlord asked Train to collect it.

"Frank (Tofano) had taken over the top two floors of the building while waiting for a new home to be built. I asked him why he couldn't just ask for his rent as the landlord and he told me, the only way I'll get it is if you collect it, because this guy will never go to court."

Train says the tenant, who never wanted him around when company was coming, kept in touch with him for up to a year by telephone after he was no longer a resident of the building.

"I don't know why he tried to keep in touch," said Train. "But he always had been ingratiating with me, and when I asked him why he was calling, he told me, `You're the best Canadian I met."

Forty-seven Duke St. is a four-storey, eight-unit building within easy walking distance of the downtown Hamilton Musalla Mosque.

Described by the Spectator's Jon Wells as "architecturally appealing", featuring dark brick, wood-pane windows, and blue-gray awning over the front door, 47 Duke had a poor record with the local fire department.

There were $11,000 in fire code fines, dating back to 1994 registered against Frank and Sylvia Tofano when they owned the building.

A Province of Ontario Corporate Profile on the building indicates that the property is now owned by 1315734 Ontario Inc., with Lisa Marie Borkovich, of Hamilton and Kimberley A. Squissato, of Copeland, Ont. Listed as administrators of the numbered company.

When the Washington Time's Bill Gertz began asking questions about El Shukrijumah attending classes at McMaster University, he was given the proverbial bum's rush by university administration.

"Jane Johnson, a spokesperson for McMaster University, declined to comment on whether El Shukrijumah was ever a student at the school," said Gertz. "She said such information was confidential."

McMaster officials also told the Toronto Sun they have no record of a suspected Al Qaida operative posing as a student or casing their nuclear reactor facility.

"Adnan El Shukrijumah never enrolled under that name or any of his aliases," a school official told The Sun.

Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com

Pursuant to Title 17 U.S.C. 107, other copyrighted work is provided for educational purposes, research, critical comment, or debate without profit or payment. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for your own purposes beyond the 'fair use' exception, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Views are those of authors and not necessarily those of Canada Free Press. Content is Copyright 1998-2014 the individual authors.